Cardamom Orange Fig Cake

Recipe No. 33

A fluffy warm cardamom orange cake soaked, once in burnt caramel. Layered with anise fig jam and salted cinnamon orange blossom buttercream. I want to write about how the flavours compliment each other, how they play with each other. The sponge carries citrus and floral elements. Maybe, cozy and radiant. The soak is light. Not the caramel you think of being heavy and thick. I infuse the caramel with cardamom and cognac to take the edge off the sweetness. Okay, next is the anise fig jam. I used fresh figs. Lucky to have baked this in summer. You can use dried figs for this too. When I think of figs, I think mysterious? Aromatic? The royals of the fruit world. The salted cinnamon orange blossom buttercream lifts the whole cake experience. Cinnamon is the echo of cardamom, warmer, deeper, more familiar. The orange blossom water is the middle note. The salt, like aways grounds the buttercream, bringing out each the flavour of each ingredient.

The ingredients for this cake makes one 4” cake. It’s small, so if you need to feed more please double or triple the recipe.